Lab, pharmacy, and patient tracking
BD (at http://www.bd.com) and Autros (at http://www.autros.com) both use Palm OS-based devices from Symbol Technologies equipped with barcoding to handle lab specimen and patient tracking. Autros also provides a solution for electronic medications administration records tracking. Other lab results solutions, such as LabKeeper from PatientKeeper and a recently announced product from pulseMD (at http://www.pulsemd.com) and PathLab allow for laboratory orders and results. At the HIMSS meeting, I also saw several solutions that allowed for radiology reports and viewing of transcribed medical charts. Most of these solutions allowed for real-time access using a Palm VIIx.

Summary
With incredible solutions like these, it's no wonder so many industry leaders are choosing to deploy Palm devices. Just look at this impressive list of hospitals and universities that have already begun deployment of handheld technology:

• American Medical Response;
• American Red Cross;
• Beth Israel Hospital;
• BlueCross BlueShield of the Rochester Area;
• Cedars-Sinai Health System;
• Centra Health;
• Children's Hospital, Norfolk VA;
• Christiana Health Care;
• Duke University Medical Center;
• German Red Cross;
• Harvard Medical School;
• Mass General Hospital;
• McKessonHBOC;
• Medical University of South Carolina: Storm
• Eye Institute;
• Medtronic;
• Miami Children's Hospital;
• Mount Sinai Hospital Toronto, Canada;
• National Naval Medical Center;
• Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA;
• Naval School of Health Sciences;
• Pacific Hearing Services;
• PHT Clinical Networks;
• Prudential;
• Rochester Individual Practice Association;
• Sonic Innovations St. Joseph's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ;
• Walter Reed Army Medical Center;
• West Park Hospital.

Palm is also one of the founding members of MoHCA (Mobile Healthcare Alliance). MoHCA's Mission is to "ensure professional practices and patient trust in mobile data management through the adoption of comprehensive industry standards and guidelines.

I don't think there has been a time in recent healthcare technology history when there has been as dominant a user-base for a single platform as there is now for the Palm OS. There's a unique opportunity for IT mangers to deliver enterprise solutions to physicians on Palm handheld devices, and the tools and solutions exist today. The next revolution in healthcare will be information management, and Palm is the leader in this market with solutions that are secure, mobile, and connected. It's an exciting time to be a physician and a Palm device user.

Darwin J. Liao, MD, MPH, puts his Palm device to work at Seattle Eye M.D.s Ophthalmology Clinic and Optical Shop at http://www.eyemds.net.